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There I was: surfing YouTube, wanting some Christmas Music, when I noticed in the right-hand column “My Fitness Journey” by MalinBjork. Of course I clicked on it. Malin told the story of how she got back in shape after her pregnancy. With our Twins approaching five months old, it is clear my wife needs help regaining her figure, and I need help understanding if she could “go home again.” (My wife holds a Black Belt in Tae Kwon Do, so you can imagine her level of fitness when I met her.)

Well, obviously, my wife and Malin are not the same woman, but genes aside, might it be possible for someone – anyone – to regain a HEALTHY weight after pregnancy. I have known a few woman than have accomplished this; but mostly, the women I know (whether they have experienced a pregnancy, or not, gain weight (which I equate with losing health) – and I do mean considerable poundage – with age. And yes, men do, too. I know I have (without the excuse of ever having been pregnant).

But, what struck me was not that Malin did a superb job of regaining her pre-pregnancy physique, or that it took two years, but that she did it at all. I’ve never met Malin, but my own struggle with trying to maintain some semblance of health (which, to a great extent, can be measured on typical bathroom scales) leads me to believe that, while it is difficult to “battle the bulge,” it is not impossible.

My good friend Scooby1961 is probably in the same camp. (Full Disclosure: Scooby and I have never met or conversed, but I have been an avid YouTube follower of his – and sometime exercise follower – for years. What he says just makes sense to me; I’d like to think that if we did meet, we could be friends.) In one of his videos he says that if you eat donuts, you’ll look like a donut; and, if you eat like the average American, you’ll look like the average American. Right on both counts. He says food is fuel – something I could never say around my brother (a devout foodie).

Now, I’m a lot older than either Malin or Scooby, and it’s been years since I could say I was “physically active,” and there’s no way I could ever get to their level of body building (nor, honestly, do I want to). But, neither do they look like the average American (Malin is a Swede, Scooby is apparently a Southern Californian – one of the few with his head screwed on straight) – and that is what I am after. And, I just gotta believe that being physically active (and I don’t mean a couple of rounds of golf in the summer) and eating right (the right stuff, the right amounts) are just the right things to do. A sound mind in a sound body, eh?

However, the Twins are approaching five months old and nearly 18 pounds apiece. If I am to be able to play with them (i.e., interact), I am going to have to get serious about getting in shape for them. I find them to be a lot of fun, and I hope I can be a lot of fun for them (which will increase the bond). I also hope that I will be around for awhile – a long while, for their sakes.

So, if this is not too early for New Year’s Resolutions (how about “long term life goals”?), I do hereby resolve (sounds better using words normal folks would never use, doesn’t it) to lose five kilos (which would bring me down to 80kg, or about 175lbs) next year, thru diet and exercise. Sadly, I anticipate being stuck in a job that requires 12-hour shifts with an hour to an hour and a half on each end commuting – this is a “seven days on / seven days off” thing. Which means for seven days I don’t have time to exercise, and the other seven days I don’t have the energy to exercise.

It also means I have to give up wine. While many people say that “a calorie is a calorie,” I subscribe to Dr Robert Lustig’s view that the liver treats alcohol differently than other stuff. Scooby says to not drink your calories, and there is nothing that a glass of red wine will do for your heart that other foods and more exercise won’t also do (after years of developing a taste for wine – face it: alcohol is not good for the body – it will take a pretty firm effort to stay away from it). In the final analysis, what do I want for my Twins?

(Malin Bjork’s YouTube videos are in English, but her own website, fitnessmom.se is in Swedish. Both Scooby and Dr Lustig converse in only English. All three have YouTube videos, too.)